


Real Togetherness

by glittergrenade



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Angst, Apologies, Computer world, Dreaming, M/M, Post-Break Up, Simulated reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-08
Updated: 2015-05-08
Packaged: 2018-03-29 15:24:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3901294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glittergrenade/pseuds/glittergrenade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been five years since My Chemical Romance broke up, but Frank doesn't know that. Nah, he's been too busy living in a literal dream.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Real Togetherness

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT: This story was originally for a contest on deviantART, a continuation contest, but it should make sense on its own! All that happened previously is, Frank is just sitting in a white room, but in his head he's been living in a happy dream world, till just now, it gets stormy, and his best friend appears, pale and looking generally pretty off.
> 
> I wrote this shortly after the band's breakup, when all the stuff going on between the guys seemed still real intenser. To kinda fix it all better in my head. So keep that in mind with any inaccurate "future" stuff lol.

"Gerard?" I spoke his name cautiously, rolling over onto my back. My voice came out raspy and weak. He narrowed his eyes at me intensely but didn't say a word. "Gerard," I repeated anxiously. "Are you okay?" I pressed my fists firmly against the rain bitten grass, wincing at its cold; and I strained upwards, trying to see why he was clasping his head so weirdly in his hands. Instantly, he recoiled back, and collapsed on his knees just over a meter away, his eyes never once leaving me. "Gerard!" I burst out. "Say something, please! You're freaking me out!"

"Your eyes are blue," he said finally, studying me cautiously from under his long beautiful lashes that dripped rainwater so gracefully. His voice was shockingly calm, but guarded.

I actually giggled. "Thank heavens, Gee. I was afraid for you! Do you know… what's going on with the weather?"

He shifted his fingers on his head, wincing, but still keeping his distance. "Frank, I mean seriously. Your eyes… are blue."

"Well, yeah…" I gazed at him now in confusion. "They've always been blue. Is that a problem?"

"It is." Gerard squinted at me. "And they haven't."

"Well… your face is awfully pale," I pointed out, still feeling bewildered. "I remember your Italian tan being real strong, only yesterday. And then there's your hair!"

"No dye," he explained flatly. "Make up, yes. Damn… I hate this place."

I frowned. "Well, thanks a lot. It's my world. It was created all for me…"

His eyes widened, and he fell over onto his side in the grass, gasping.

"Are you okay?" I asked, alarmed.

"Yup…" he grimaced. "It's just… my head… and… you're right. I'm not supposed to be here, inside of your head. Oh, my head…!"

"Gerard!" I yelped.

"How did you know, Frank?" he groaned.

"Know what?" I was terrified. I struggled up to my hands and knees, and forced myself to crawl over to his side. My body ached, and I wondered what I had done to it. I wasn't used to feeling pain, in this place.

Gerard squinted at me. "That this is a virtual world. Hey wait, Frank… your eyes are brown."

"Of course they are!" I bushed by the obvious comment. "But, Gerard!"

"Don't touch me!" He scrabbled weakly at his pocket. "Frank, they were just blue a moment ago."

"That's crazy!" I protested. "I mean, Gee, are you alright?" I was worried and bewildered — but strangest of all, an eery sense was filling me that his claim had some truth to it. That was… weird. Hm, perhaps there had just been a correction in the computer that controlled this place? That didn't happen often, but hey, every software makes mistakes. Even one created by a genius like Doctor White.

"You were just insisting your eyes were always… oh, never mind," he grumbled as he managed to take out a small metal object. It was red, same shade as his uniform, and covered in an assorted selection of buttons and dials, like some sort of a millionth generation TV remote. "Look," he said firmly, "you better be the real Franklin Anthony Iero. 'Cuz I'm here to rescue you."

I widened my eyes, then shook my head quickly. "Gee, you're just a part of my world…"

"I don't get that, is there a virtual me running around here too?"

I frowned. "Everyone and everything here but me is virtual, Gerard. And everything is perfect. That's why I'm so confused…"

He sighed heavily. "Okay. So either you're Frank Iero, or a very clever trap. I'll take my chances. Frank, you don't wanna be in this world. I'm your friend, and I've come to rescue you. The reason why everything's so messed up here now, is because I'm intruding into your mind, and that's not meant to happen. Got it?"

I nodded slowly. Somehow, I trusted this rugged, beautiful, man, my best friend Gerard Way…

"How much d'ya know?" he asked me. "I mean, about reality? How much do you remember, and what was the transition like?"

I blinked, struggling to think back for the first time since I could remember. "I hated my life… it's so much better now. I think… I'm sitting in a white room, aren't I. They perpetually do experiments on me, the perfect human lab rat. Never complaining. Because I'm happy. They don't understand it… they probably think I'm miserable, like before. But Doctor White built a perfect world for my mind to live in, and now I'm happy. She oversees it."

"And you agreed to it all?" Gerard looked incredulous. "Frankie, you were missing for five years before we found any news of you! Don't tell me you agreed to do this…"

I blinked. "I don't remember. I just know I hated my life."

Gerard swallowed. "Well… Hell, you better be for reals." He reached out his hand and squeezed mine. I gripped his back; it was so stable, reliable, and strong… and warm. With his other hand he scrabbled at the red thing. And then suddenly, I was back.

I was sitting in that sterile white room, on that white chair, by that white foam bed, in my plain white clothes. Gerard was curled up there next to me, hand still in mine, mostly supported by a very familiar-looking stranger. It felt… warm, with Gee slouched up right there. Or more like… hot. Sexy. Marvelous.

But about the stranger. This man was skinny and blond — a fake blond, I think — and wearing a pure red uniform that matched Gerard's; and his face also strongly resembled Gerard's, as if they were brothers. Perhaps that was what was so familiar about him. His forehead was creased with worry, but when I looked around, this all dissipated into a rare smile. Don't ask me how I knew that his smile was rare; I honestly cannot answer that question.

"Frank!" he exclaimed, leaping to his feet. Gerard groaned pathetically as he was pushed, and quickly the man hauled him up again, the smile vanished again without a trace. "Gee? Gee!"

I gazed at the scene confusedly. "You know Gerard, then? What's going on?"

The man glanced sharply back at me, his light brown eyes just barely betraying alarm. "You can't remember us?"

"I know Gerard, he was my best friend in my world…" I began to explain, but the guy grabbed my arm, slinging Gerard over his shoulder with a wince.

"Never mind, we can talk later. Can you walk, Frank?"

I nodded, and got up to my feet. My legs felt strangely woozy, as if I hadn't used them in years, and I supposed that might well true. But I was unhurt, so I nodded.

"Fantastic," the guy said. "Then come with me, and hurry."

I nodded and followed. Walking felt strange. "Okay, but what if I liked my world better…?"

"You can come back to it later, Frank, if you decide then you don't like being rescued." He sounded very worn out. "I'm Mikey, by the way. Gerard's little brother."

"Oh, hey," I said lamely. It was an awkward introduction, but at least we were moving to lessen that. He lead me in silence down hallways I had never seen, and stairs I didn't remember seeing. Presently, he stopped abruptly. I almost ran into him, but he held me back firmly, finger to his lips. Then he tapped twice gently on a wall.

There was a reply. Four knocks. Looking relived, Mikey skipped on several yards to a door. He flung it open, and strode right into another man.

This one was even taller, and lankier, with long dark curls and a matching red uniform. His eyes were warm and sparkling, and he had full lips. Yay, oh joy, it was another familiar stranger! "Crap, Mikey!" he hissed, but he was smiling. "Is Gerard alright there?" Then his eyes landed upon me, and he broke right out into an enormous grin. He practically leapt at me, enveloping me in a bear hug.

I submitted for a few seconds, before awkwardly shying away. "Hey."

"Hey, Frank!" he beamed.

"Uh, Toro," Mikey hissed, giving the man a hard shove in the arm.

"Yeah?" He didn't look annoyed, still way too blissful.

"He doesn't remember us."

The man (Toro?)'s smile faded more quickly than I'd thought possible, and he gazed at me now in more of a sad way. "Okay… well then. I'm sorry… for hugging you so suddenly like that. My name is Ray, and… I'm your friend."

I nodded uncomfortably. "Hi. Guess you know I'm Frank."

He nodded, seemingly making a failing effort at optimism. "And so do you, that's a good sign!"

I stared at him blankly. Why wouldn't I know my own name…?

Suddenly, there was a shout from outside. Mikey widened his eyes, shifting Gerard's body slightly on his shoulder. My best friend groaned again. Ray looked equally worried, especially as a series of gunshots began to ring out. The guys, without a moment's consideration, ran through the door and pressed on out through a second one. Alarms began to go off, but they kept running, and I kept close behind them.

This second door lead into the great outdoors… or, at least, to its nearest equivalent. We were in a neatly mowed lawn surrounded by golden fields, with one long dark highway that didn't have any traffic. The building we had just left looked tall and ominous from the outside, but the others didn't look back at it. They were too focused on heading straight towards the gunshots.

Then I saw it. A small helicopter, with pale blue round surfaces and tinted glass windows. Another red-uniformed man was standing with his back to it protectively, an amazingly determined look on his face, as he fired, holding away a small group of guards. He ducked behind the helicopter as they returned fire, then popped right back up again to do some more shooting, just like a pro.

One, two, three, four guards still standing. But we had set off the alarm. More would come.

We reached the helicopter safely, and Mikey shoved me in. I stumbled under the seat, and he climbed in over me. Ray followed suit. "Bob?"

The man protecting the helicopter nodded and started swearing. Then, giving one last shot, he dived into the helicopter and slammed the door. Ray started the thing, and we were up up and away, blending in well with the cloudy sky. Shots rang after us, but we were safe.

Did I really want to be?

I scrambled up onto my hands and knees, and the new man (Bob, had Mikey said?), another blond but this one more natural, with a sturdy build and small but gentle eyes, and an another altogether unknown but familiar look. I gazed at him in wonder, feeling yet another crushing wave of confusion come upon me.

Obviously he read my expression pretty well, because he smirked and said, "What, Frank, just 'cuz I quit the band before you guys did, doesn't mean I would miss out on a quest to save my friend. How are you feeling? What've they done to you?"

"I… uh…" I was a bit overwhelmed again. "I…"

Bob looked worried, but he waited for me to speak.

"I, uh… just… experiments, you know. Nothing permanently damaging."

"Was your mind actually trapped inside a virtual reality so they could more easily access your body without your struggles?"

"Uh, yeah… only Doctor White knew that, though… the others only knew I couldn't move… they thought I was still in that terrible state of despair…"

Bob waited a little more, then nodded. "Poor guy. Well, I'm glad you're alive, and it's good to have you back." He gave me an awkward one-arm hug. Not half as scary as Ray's.

That hadn't been hard! Fortunately, Mikey and Ray were both too preoccupied with Gerard to pay attention, and to butt in with the info that I didn't have a clue who he was. Plus, of course, part of Ray's attention was focused on the wheel. Even if that part appeared to be way too small for my comfort.

Bob leaned back in the squished seat, glancing at Gerard, who was laid out awkwardly across the laps of Ray and Mikey, his legs tangled up and squished on Ray's side, and his head laid more tenderly on Mikey's lap.

"Gee?" Bob said softy, and Gerard moaned weakly, stirring. We all looked at him as his eyes flickered open. They were such gorgeous eyes, I had always thought so… and then they met mine, and a look of pride and satisfaction filled them.

"Frankie…" he mumbled breathily. "Your eyes… are… brown."

I smiled and nodded, but Mikey looked concerned. "Gerard? You okay?"

"Yeaaahhh…" he replied softly.

"He's delirious," Bob said quietly, gazing out the window.

"No… I'm… NOT!" Gerard was suddenly indignant. His eyes narrowed and his lips pursed. "Frank, tell 'em!"

All eyes went on me. A spark of humor lighting my soul, I just gave a playful shrug. "Yeah, he's delirious. Gotta be."

Gerard sighed painfully. "Frank… you haven't changed one bit."

I chuckled, and we flew on.

The helicopter flight wasn't long, and it was a mere forty minutes until we landed. I peered out the window. We were in a highway town, it seemed, on the edges of the suburbs, nearest to a homely black cottage. We all climbed out quickly, and Mikey flung a black tarp over the helicopter. Bob carried Gerard.

I was lead inside, and into a bedroom. It was fairly small, and very black, but the carpet was red; and when the lights were turned on it looked rather more welcoming. Largely 'cuz of the friendly mess that was now visible: pillows, books, and art supplies decorated the floor and the desk. Bob laid Gerard down on the bed, and the latter cracked his knuckles over his chest.

"Thanks, Bob," Gerard smiled, his eyes shining with gratitude and happiness.

"No problem," Bob replied cheerfully, sitting down on the edge of the desk. "Frank, how you doing?"

"Fine," I replied, plopping my butt down on the floor. Mikey and Ray came in, their hands full of refreshments. My eyes widened at all the junk food they had brought: twizzlers, potato chips, gummy worms, peanut butter pretzels, marshmallows, Cheetos, Doritos, pop tarts, cheese crackers, soda, galore! Oh, and there was water.

"We thought you might be hungry!" Ray said brightly, sitting down on the floor next to me. I felt my eyes widen some more stupidly. "Help yourself!" he invited, and I dug in, popping open a bag of chips, sour cream and onion flavor.

"Thanks!" I said momentarily, with my mouth full. Mikey snickered, and Gerard let out a gasping chuckle. I looked up at him. "Ya want anything, Gee baby?"

Gerard blushed, and shook his head no, weakly. "Frank… what… exactly was I, to you? In the virtual world?"

I blushed myself, instantly. "My best friend!" …who I happened to have a bit of a crush on… I added silently.

Bob frowned. "Hey, but there WERE no real people in the virtual world! I looked in the data banks, the files, the info — they couldn't recreate real people, or his mind would protest."

I winked. "No protests here."

Bob sighed. "Your head. It would recognize it wasn't real."

"Speaking of heads and memories…" Mikey said slowly, "Bob, you do know that Frank doesn't remember a thing, right? That he doesn't know us?"

Bob didn't reply, but gazed at me questioningly. My diplomatic answer was to duck my head abashedly and dive into a box of pop tarts. How excruciatingly mature of me.

At length, Ray spoke briskly, "Well! Frank, would you describe to us… your world?"

I took a deep breath. "Surrrre. Everything was perfect there. No job or money to worry about, yet I owned everything I could ever want or need! Like, I had a guitar, I could wail on her whenever I wanted. And my next door neighbor's name was Gerard Way, his hair was dyed just the most vibrant shade of red! And he was this Gerard. We would go out into the woods together often, and we cut down a good many huge monsters together easily! It was awesome! And…" I trailed off, embarrassed by my over-enthusiasm. But Gerard looked absolutely intrigued. "Hey…" I spoke again slowly, "uh, so what's happened on your end?"

There was a silence. At length, Ray spoke reluctantly. "We were in a band, Frank. My Chemical Romance. Until… stuff got messed up, and it ended. Later that same year, 2013, you disappeared. Five years ago. We searched and searched, but found nothing. Then… Jamia told us she found something."

My heart twisted at that name, and suddenly a rage of emotions filled me, insanely similar to those I felt for Gerard, only even louder, stronger, and far more painful. I found myself choking up. "Jamia… where is she?"

Mikey's eyes flickered around the room. "You remember her?"

"I know I loved her," I murmured, and as those words came from my lips, I couldn't've been more positive they were true. I blinked, hard. "Where is she?"

"She disappeared," Gerard mumbled emotionlessly, "asked me to take care of the kids. And she never came back. Lindsey went out after her. I let her go. I… I let her."

"That's Gee's wife," Bob said softly, and reached over to the sick man, touching his hands lightly and briefly.

"She never returned, either," Mikey mumbled, "leaving Gee alone to take care of four young children… three of them yours, Frank. I help out. I'm single now too, anyways. Made a mistake five years ago and it lead to misery…"

I stifled a sob. "Where are my kids?"

"Safe," Bob promised. "Far from here. Don't worry about them, you'll see them again soon enough. And, Frank… I'm so sorry about Jamia. Because… that's how we finally found you. We found info… on the women's bodies… we managed to get them back and hack into the data files of a Doctor Rosetta White…"

I sniffled. "Doctor White kept me happy. In my world. She created it for me. Because I was so depressed before."

"Death Spells never got its real start," Ray mused. "Seems I've been the most successful of any of us, since IT happened."

I didn't bother to ask what Death Spells was. Who gave a damn? I took a deep breath. "Gerard?"

"What?" Gee's voice was hollow, but he took a deep breath and turned his head to look at me.

"I'm sorry about Lindsey."

"Don't be," he replied, more calmly than before. He even managed a faint smile. "I… I've come to accept it. I've moved on. I have Bandit, and she's depending on me. And now we've got you back, too, Frank. You've come back from the dead. A couple months ago I never woulda believed that could ever possibly happen; to me, you were just as gone as her. And, Frank, I'm so sorry about Jamia."

I sighed softly. "She seems no more than an idea in my mind, of perfection and of beauty… I barely remember her. It's sad. But I'm okay."

"You deserve to be," Gerard murmured. "You said you hated your life before your world… Frankie, I'm so so sorry about our last argument, that you can't remember. I've held the guilt over that for five years."

"I forgive you," I replied warmly. "I was probably being an asshole, anyways."

"Would you forgive me if you remembered, though." Gerard sighed. "I remember reading your depressing blog, Frank. The poetry. Feeling like crap. Because I remembered… I remembered us, Frank. And still, we were supposed to be friends."

A guilty spark was alighted in my heart. "Us?"

Gerard looked abashed, but he nodded. "LynZ was most perfect for me, though… and I'll never ever love another woman." (He said "woman", see. I noted that.)

"So you do mean… like that?" I asked gently.

Gerard nodded weakly. "But it wasn't meant to be… and you were the only one besides LynZ. Excluding awkward high school dates. It was only ever a struggle between the two of you."

"Oh…" I whispered. "No wonder I liked the virtual you so much."

"But that's what doesn't make sense," Mikey injected quietly. "There should be no virtual Gerard. Your mind would recognize him as being unreal, and the entire illusion should disappear, that's why there could be no copies of real life people… isn't that right, Bob?"

Bob was silent for a moment. At length, he said, "Well… there is a chance."

"What?" I breathed. All eyes went on Bob. He looked awkward, and suddenly I remembered he hated attention, particularly camera eyes. Funny.

He went on, his eyes fixed on a can of Mountain Due. "Well… if virtual Gerard wasn't a creation of the software's creator entirely… I mean, if he occupied enough of your thoughts, Frank… he could be there. In your perfect world… if you really were focused on him… that exact image, aspect of him…"

I blinked. This was coming together. "Really?"

"Yeah." Bob swallowed. "I think so."

Quietly, I stood up and walked over to the bedside. Gerard's eyes were moist, and I sat down next to him. He looked up into my face, and I gazed back.

Those were such beautiful eyes, he had… such lovely dazzling hazel eyes, with the power to either make me fall at his feet or shove him in the balls, though I would never let him know it. His nose was like a pale little button, challenging me in my head to bop it gently with my thumb. His lips looked so soft and sweet. I wished they would curl into a smile once more… they deserved it.

Suddenly I was aware of the door creaking, and I looked up. The other guys were trying to sneak out. What the Heck…? It was only then that I realized that the two of us had been sitting there, just gazing at each other, for at least five minutes already. Heat rushed to my face as the door closed gently behind Ray. Gerard chuckled.

"Mikey knows, he doesn't wanna be in the same room as the two of us and a bed," he smirked. "And Ray and Bob were just being clever."

I smiled. "Yeah?"

Gerard sighed. "They should know that's over… guess just now didn't seem like it, though."

"Maybe it didn't," I murmured softly. He was so cute when he spoke.

"I wish you could remember…" Gerard sighed again. "I wish you could remember our kisses, sure, but more than that… I wish you could remember our friendship. And Jamia. And Lindsey. And your kids. Don't be too worried though, they're all young enough still, and you're hard not to love. It'll turn out okay."

"Frank and Gerard — single dads, facing the world side by side," I snickered.

Gerard looked downcast. "It sucks… I miss her, every night, every day."

There was a silence.

He spoke up again. "Frank… the argument we had… I really wish you could remember it. I wish I could be forgiven, with knowledge of what I was actually being forgiven for."

"I know I musta been being a dick," I stated firmly. "Gerard, you know I forgave you even then."

He widened his eyes. "But you don't remember, right?"

I shook my head. "You remember what Bob said, though. You filling my mind. That exact ASPECT of you. Gerard, you know what that means…"

There was a silence, as he gazed at me in wonder. Then he grasped me by the hand, pulling me down with more strength than I thought he had. Down, down into a kiss.

It was extremely brief, because instants later he nudged me away sharply. "I'm so sorry, Frank… I don't know what came over me just then. It's just… so you were so focused on me, in so positive of a way… it's a really nice feeling, being forgiven."

I smiled. "Indeed it is. But Gee, don't apologize… I really don't mind. I know you still love Lindsey, though."

He nodded. "I do. But come to think of it, Frank… she didn't mind Frerard. Sure, she wasn't fond of the idea of its carrying on after we were married, but it was you, Frank, who really put a vocally firm end to it. I don't think she'd want me to drown forever in her memory."

"What are you saying?" My heart was beating fast, yet tensely. "Gerard?"

"I'll always love Lindsey," he said slowly, "but I've loved you for a long time, Frank. I'll always miss my wife, I'll never stop thinking about her… I can never ever get over her, but I can move on from her death. You see what I'm saying?"

I nodded, slowly. "I do see. Gerard…"

There was a pause. He looked terribly anxious. It was adorable, actually. I went on.

"Gerard… I feel the same."

He truly smiled then, gorgeously, handsomely, and so did I. This time, I leaned into our kiss, which lasted way longer than before. I wrapped my arms around my sick pretty boy, holding him against my chest as we smooched on the bed… in spite of his lingering weakness, we two were soon in a tangle of arms and legs. His hair was so soft against my cheek, and his tongue was so pleasantly rough against my tongue.

So, although there still remained many unanswered questions; many open-ended theories and random ideas on what might've caused my being experimented on in the lab in the first place, about my depression, whether or not I had agreed to everything, and about Doctor White's strange kindness… and, although we both forever loved the memories of our amazing wives to the end, beyond all doubt… Still, there was us. Me and Gerard. Frankie and Gee. We were together, and we could be happy. Plus, we had friends. Real live friends, real live children, and real live us. A corrupted real world with all that goodness, was worth any number of perfect virtual worlds with nothing real at all. Because, hey: in the end, togetherness was the most important thing in the whole wide universe.

The End


End file.
